Kanesh Sundrum & Co

On the court record

Kanesh Sundrum & Co is a Malaysian firm whose reported matters before the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi) and the Court of Appeal (Mahkamah Rayuan) span contract, professional-regulation, injunctions and construction. In the contract field it has appeared on both sides of a substantial dispute between a university and a developer over the termination of a principal development agreement and a later settlement agreement, turning on whether the developer had breached its obligations by failing to complete the project, obtain the certificate of completion and compliance, pay concession and utility charges and maintain a mall, and whether the university was entitled to terminate. Its construction work includes a liquidated ascertained damages claim where a discrepancy between the letter of award and other documents, the absence of written notice for an extension of time, rectification costs and loss of income were in issue against a counterclaim for payment.

The firm's public-law and interim-relief work is notable. It has appeared, on appeal, in a matter arising from the Malaysian Medical Council's dismissal of a complaint of medical misconduct, engaging a judicial review to quash that dismissal, the right of appeal under sections 30 and 31 of the Medical Act 1971 and the scope of an aggrieved person following the repeal of a provision of that Act. It has also argued an injunction application applying the American Cyanamid test, where an ex parte injunction had been granted but the inter partes injunction was dismissed on the balance of convenience, and a landlord-tenant dispute recharacterised by the defence as a joint venture. In the injunction matter the firm applied the American Cyanamid test, and though an ex parte injunction had first been granted, the inter partes injunction was dismissed once the balance of convenience and the adequacy of damages were weighed. The reported profile is that of a commercial-litigation practice engaged with high-value contract and construction disputes, professional-regulatory review and the interim injunctions that shape such litigation.